Every Windows computer comes with a two-button mouse. The left button clicks normally; the right button summons a shortcut menu containing commands for whatever you clicked. The Mac has shortcut menus, too, of course, but they’re not quite as necessary as they are in Windows, where the shortcut menu is often the only place you’ll find a certain command.

So when you’re running Windows on your Mac, how are you supposed to right-click?

Well, you could get yourself a two-button mouse, of course. It works fine on a Mac (in Windows or in Mac OS X). In fact, most desktop Macs sold since 2006 come with a two-button mouse, called the Mighty Mouse. It doesn’t appear to have two buttons, but you can actually click two different spots on its sloping far side. See page 340 for instructions on turning this feature on. The Mighty Mouse works fine for right-clicking in Windows.

If you have a recent Mac laptop, you can trigger a right-click using a sneaky trick: Put two fingertips on the trackpad, and then click the button. (That’s an option you can turn on or off in the Trackpad panel of System Preferences.)

Alternatively, if that’s too much to learn, just highlight whatever you want to right-click and then press Shift-F10.

If you’re stuck with a one-button Mac mouse, and none of these options works for you, use the Apple Mouse Utility program for Windows. (You can download it from this book’s “Missing CD” page at www.missingmanuals.com.) It lets you Control-click to simulate a right-click while you’re running Windows."